The most ambitious production and logistical operation by the Israeli Opera is about to reach a climax as 50,000 or so people watch five open-air performances of Carmen, starting Thursday, against the backdrop of the ancient fortress of Masada at the lowest point on Earth.

The extraordinary setting for Bizet's celebrated romantic opera combines desert, mountains and the Dead Sea, as well as the stunning fortress ruins.

The 4,000 sq-metre stage, orchestral pit, banks of seating, reception area and parking lots have taken more than three months to build from scratch. Workers will begin dismantling the entire site the morning after the final performance.

Carmen is the biggest and the most challenging of the three productions staged by the Israeli Opera at Masada since 2010. About 2,500 workers have been involved in creating the site, and 450 international performers, including 32 flamenco dancers from Spain, will take to the stage.

Twenty-five marquees house the dressing rooms, make-up rooms and dining facilities for the performers and staff. Thirty tons of lighting and sound equipment has been shipped to Israel, much of it from the UK, and then transported to the desert.

Forty olive trees were planted in the "Spanish village" foyer area, where the audience will be served tapas and cava. Guests will be bussed to nearby Dead Sea hotels, car parks and a local airfield as private vehicles are barred from the site. The performance includes horses, donkeys and a moving train.

The desert setting poses special challenges to the cast, according to Uri Hartman, the chief producer.

"They need to drink more and rest more because of the heat and the dry desert winds," he said. Key performers will have five changes of heavy costumes during the three-and-a-half hour show.

Masada national park officials and the Israeli Opera took two years to negotiate an agreement over the use of the site. One of the conditions was that the area had, each year, to be returned to its natural state.

"Every year the opera village is entirely packed up – there is no evidence of it ever having been there," said Eitan Campbell, manager of the park.

The set is dismantled within two weeks, but it takes a further six months to restore the site.

The fortress, on a plateau 400 metres above the desert floor, was built by Herod the Great, and excavated in the 1960s. About 1,000 Jews were besieged there by soldiers of the Roman empire in the 1st century, ultimately choosing mass suicide rather than surrender.